One Day Horse Loop
In short:
46 miles
19 portages
14 hours 32 minutes
In long:
My friend, Andrew Stone, once mentioned that he saw no reason a group of Charlie Guides couldn’t do a Horse Loop in a day. This seemed like just a fun observation with little intent for action at the time. For those that don’t know, a Horse Loop is a canoe route in the Boundary Waters that Northern Tier does and typically takes five days to complete. Later in the season when I had two days off in a row, I got antsy halfway through the first day and was thinking of things to do. The idea to take action and actually do a one day Horse Loop came to mind. I knew what I had to do: locate a boat, gather supplies, get a day permit, and most importantly, find at least one other person to join me in my stupidity, I mean adventure. For the rest of the day I figured out all the logistics and recruited Allen Lowenstein and Ethan Hosey. We’d borrow Blake Ferree’s kevlar and leave hours before the crack of dawn.
I had a conflict with this plan though. It was Josh Lambert’s 21st birthday celebration the night before we leave and I didn’t want to miss it. My solution was simple, celebrate with Josh and leave early for my trip as planned. So, after going to the Steakhouse and playing pool at Catz, Ethan, Allen, and I left from Moose Lake at 1:18am. I had gotten zero sleep. I believe Allen and Ethan had gotten a couple hours. Josh waved us off at the landing and it began.
We made it to Pipestone Bay at 4:00am for breakfast. Night navigation went smoothly across Basswood. At 7:00am while portaging at Tin Can Mike, when I picked up the canoe a hole formed on the side. We repaired it with a plastic bag and some duct tape and moved on. While we paddle the Horse River we went a bit crazy from the lack of sleep and amount of paddling. We played in the water and swam around for a while. We went a little out of our way to Lower Basswood Falls for lunch. The remaining portages were fine, but the paddle back across Basswood and Wind Lakes felt like an eternity. After we finished, we went into town for a meal and got back to pass out to take out crews the next day.
